Inside Instacart: From 2012 to Now Into a $2.9 billion business
Founders: Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen, Brandon Leonardo
Founded Year: 2012
Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners
Funding Raised: $2.9 billion
What Is the business model of Instacart?
Grocery delivery marketplace that hires personal shoppers to buy and deliver items from local stores, earning revenue via delivery fees and retailer commissions
How Instacart got started?
Founded by Mehta after 20 prior failed apps, he built a prototype that allowed users to order groceries on-demand, launched in 2012 in San Francisco using a network of “shoppers” to fulfill orders
what growth strategy has Instacart followed?
Formed partnerships with major supermarket chains and focused on optimizing routing and batching of orders to improve efficiency, which helped it dominate the US online grocery market and grow rapidly, particularly in 2020
what are the top products/features of Instacart
Instacart marketplace app, Instacart Express membership, Instacart Ads platform for brands
what was the biggest challenge faced by Instacart?
Logistical challenges scaling the service—balancing supply of shoppers with customer demand—especially during surges like the COVID-19 pandemic, and competition from retail giants entering delivery